Three-And-A-Half New College Basketball Arenas

College football season is nearing its end, so that means it’s time for college sports fans to start thinking about the 2013-2014 basketball season. There are three major new arenas this year, plus one that’s received a major renovation that makes it essentially new.

Pinnacle Bank Arena is the new home of the University of Nebraska basketball teams, as well as a major new entertainment venue for Lincoln, Nebraska. The arena seats 15,000 for basketball and adds another 1,000 for concerts. It cost $179 million to build the glitzy new building just west of the University of Nebraska campus. The hotels closest to Pinnacle Bank Arena are a short distance southeast of the arena at the southern edge of the campus. There’s another large cluster of places to stay about 2 miles northwest on West Cornhusker Highway.

The University of Maine basketball teams will play most of their games this year at the new Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. It’s located about 10 miles south of the university’s campus in Orono. You can find plenty of places to stay near Cross Insurance Center in Bangor and along I-95 between Bangor and Orono. The arena can hold 5,800 for sports events.

SECU Arena is the name of the newest sports and entertainment venue in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The arena is located on the campus of Towson University and becomes the new home for the university’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics teams. It seats 5,200 and is sure to host lots of non-university events (concerts and sports). Towson is on the north side of the city of Baltimore and there are plenty of nearby places to stay in downtown Baltimore and around the Baltimore Beltway.

Southern Methodist University’s Moody Coliseum has been around since 1956, but it won’t look anything like a 57-year-old arena when it reopens later this month. $40 million has been spent on renovating the on-campus facility, giving it an external facelift and plenty of 21st century amenities inside. SMU is in the University Park neighborhood a short distance north of downtown Dallas. You’ll find places to stay near Moody Coliseum within a 3 mile radius, both north and south of the university, many of them congregated on or near the North Central Expressway.

In the newsletter: Disney Magic starts sailing from Galveston, the winter hotel sale continues – but not for long – and the fall/winter cruise season begins with some nice deals on cruises to and from Miami. […]